New Year's Revolutions
by TheSparkler
Summary: Marinette's first New Year's Eve party means racing the clock, eating way too many breadsticks, and an unexpected plot twist to ring in the next stage of her life. Happy reading, and happy New Year!
1. New Year's Eve

***I mention a Halloween party at one point, and I am referring to my own story, 'The Not-So-Haunted House' (not to toot my own horn or anything :)**

 ****If you do not know how the game of Spoons works, google "how to play spoons card game" - it's easy to understand, I promise**

* * *

"So, the real question is," said Alya, leaning over the pile of paper in front of her to reach the set of markers, "what are we going to wear tonight?"

"Do we always have to discuss what we're going to wear beforehand? Why can't we just, ya know, wear it?"

"C'mon, girl! You know that talking about dressing up is half the fun of dressing up!"

"That would explain why we always have to have a discussion about it," mumbled Marinette jokingly as she added one last sticker to her list. Standing up, she shook out her foot to wake it up, and winced at the tingly feeling that shot through her lower limb when her toes hit the ground. "Are we supposed to dress up or what? It's my first New Year's Eve party, you know. I put together a few things for you to look at, but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be dressy or casual, so I pulled both."

"Something dressy but casual at the same time."

She scrunched her eyes in confusion.

"Something that says 'subtly fabulous with just a _touch_ of bling-a-ding-ding!'" said Alya, finishing her own list and getting up to examine her friend's closet.

Marinette raised her eyebrows, then shook her head and started toward her wardrobe.

"Personally," started Marinette with a straight face as both girls began flipping through sweaters, "I think that if my clothes are talking to me, I have bigger problems than mere fashion." She struggled to remain stoic, but broke into giggles when Alya tried (and failed) to throw a pillow at her friend's face. Marinette had spent several days staring at her clothes, and had put together four different outfits as possibilities (two dressy and two casual, just in case). Alya had leaked earlier in the week that Adrien would be at the party, and she wanted to feel confident in whatever she was wearing.

"Here," said the brunette, pulling out a long white sweater. "Wear this with my red skinny jeans and you're all set to go!"

"Did you just bring your entire closet?" Marinette asked as Alya pulled several tops out of her bag before finding the pants she was looking for (Alya had arrived in the dress that she was going to the party in, but as usual she brought half her wardrobe, just in case). "Besides, aren't red pants a little Christmassy? I was thinking of wearing the red scarf I finished last week, so I would have a little color without it being too overwhelming." Marinette reached toward the shelf in her closet and pulled out a swath of red fabric that hung neatly from her hand in a perfect loop (she preferred infinity scarves, as she found that she could never decide how to wrap normal scarves and keep them from falling off or getting caught on something).

Alya stopped and thought before springing up again, dodging the paper and glitter that still littered the floor. "Dark blue skinny jeans and your red scarf – less like Christmas, but still kind of festive."

"And no matter what you say," started Marinette as Alya opened her mouth once more, "I am wearing black Converse and that is the end of that." Thankfully, shoes were the one thing she could decide on on her own.

Alya sighed. "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."

The blue-haired girl laughed at her friend's dramatics. "Now we'd better clean up the floor before one of us sends the glitter flying or something." Scooping up the finished lists, Marinette laid them on her desk to dry and helped Alya gather up the plethora of markers and glitter glue that were scattered all across the carpet. What had started as drafting a list of New Year's Resolutions had somehow turned into list creation and decoration, in a way that only Alya could.

Alya's list started with _Resolution I: Go to holiday parties more often_

Marinette's began with simply _Leave the house_

20 minutes later, both girls were ready to go, and took advantage of the fading sunlight to walk the few short blocks to Nino's house. It was rather warm (at almost 40 degrees F), but the breeze ensured that both girls wore their winter coats, just in case (Marinette's parents were bringing them home later, so that they wouldn't have to walk home in the dark). When they got to Nino's, their host met them at the door and ushered them in, having them leave their shoes by the door and steering them to the stairs to the group of people in the basement. He took their jackets and piled them on the bed in the guest room, then followed them down. There wasn't a huge crowd, but Marinette was thankful for it, as this was more in her comfort zone than Adrien's huge Halloween bash (which turned out to be a ton of fun, but still). *

"Want something to drink? Sprite? Pepsi?"

"How about a juice box?" Marinette jumped (literally) at the voice that sounded from behind her. She turned to find Adrien Agreste holding out a strawberry-kiwi juice pouch (her favorite) and sipping on one of his own. She reached forward to take it, trying to stop the blush that was creeping its way up her cheeks and instead focusing on stabbing her plastic straw through the tiny, opaque circle on the pouch (she missed twice before she finally got it – it was harder than it looked). The kitchenette on the other end of the room had a counter that ran the length of the wall, and most of the space was filled with frosted sugar cookies, fruit and veggie trays, and tubes full of ice and drinks. The very end of the counter held plates, napkins, and various piles of toothpicks and silverware. Nino, hearing the doorbell, ran back upstairs, and Marinette joined Alya and Adrien, who where scoping out the best of the fruit.

"So, Marinette, do you have any big plans for the new year?" Adrien asked, spearing a piece of pineapple with a toothpick and dunking it in the fruit dip in the middle of the tray.

"I, uh, well, I…" She flapped her arms in an attempt to deliver her incoherent message. "You know, just some fashion stuff." She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand in an attempt to keep from accidentally hitting someone. "What about you?"

(Marinette's resolution number 2: _Complete an entire coherent sentence in front of Adrien Agreste_ , was still in progress).

Alya, standing behind Adrien and facing Marinette, didn't know whether to laugh or groan from the second-hand embarrassment.

"I really want to travel, to be honest," said Adrien, trying to help the poor girl relax. "It is sad that I have never left France?"

"I haven't, either," muttered Marinette shyly, twisting her hands and finally looking him in the eye. "Where do you want to go?" ( _That counts, right?_ )

"Anywhere! Everywhere?" He laughed at his own indecision and waved to Ivan, who came up beside him looking for a beverage. Adrien opened his mouth to say something else when Nino reappeared, with Kim and Juleka in tow.

"C'mon, man, Rose and Alix just finished their Mario Kart race, and we still have that bet from like two months ago!" Nino caught the blond model by the arm and pulled him around the table in the middle of the floor to the giant, pillow-covered couch on the other end of the room. As Adrien passed, he caught Marinette's sleeve, who in turn pulled Alya along with. The boys set up the Wii for another race, this one tournament-style, while the girls watched on. Nino, as he always did, picked Luigi. Adrien, wanted to branch out a bit, chose Baby Daisy in hopes that her smaller size would make her faster (he was wrong, at least with his ability to steer). To the surprise of absolutely no one in the room, Nino won by a landslide (thrice) while Adrien jokingly complained about the unfair difficultly of Rainbow Road.

"Here," Adrien said, passing off his controller to Marinette, who was sitting beside him (thanks to the efforts of her best friend, who sat on her other side; Alya's _Resolution IV: Be the perfect wingwoman_ ). "Help me redeem myself, would you?" Adrien winked at her, thinking of Marinette's victory in the Mega Strike III tournament. When Nino looked up from his celebratory dance and noticed that his opponent had changed, he narrowed his eyes and smiled, knowing that if anyone in the room could beat him, she could (Max could have wiped the floor with them all, but he was in Strasbourg for the holidays). Marinette hesitated to take the remote (she hadn't played Mario Kart in a _very_ long time), and Nino flipped through the tracks, looking for one to stump his friend and carry on his winning streak.

"Wario's Gold Mine it is," said Nino, reaching around to try to get the game senor to recognize his remote. It was far from his best track, but he knew that Marinette would struggle too, and he was banking on the fact that her skills were quite rusty. While he selected the race, Marinette moved from the ultra-comfy couch to the floor, knowing that she could focus better if she wasn't stuck in the upholstery. Adrien, going with his small-but-fast theory, had put tiny Daisy on a motorcycle; while this theory had failed him, Marinette had a sneaking suspicion that it could actually turn out to be helpful for her in the long run.

As the two built up to the race, several others came to watch, with Alix sitting on the arm of the couch by Alya, and Juleka sitting on the floor next to Marinette, by Alya's green-socked feet. Ivan and Mylène sat on the other end of the L-shaped couch and Kim sat in the middle of the floor to give commentary during the race. Marinette looked down at the white controller in her hands, examined the buttons for several seconds. All at once, she realized that she remembered a thing or two after all. Adrien bumped her shoulder with his knee and gave her an encouraging smile, and suddenly Marinette felt like she could have won the race even if she used the controller with her toes.

The timer began to count down, and Nino, closest to the starting line because of his first-place finish in the last two races (he got third in the first one), grinned and pressed his accelerator when the countdown hit '2' to give him a boost for a head start. Unknown to him, Marinette had done the same thing, so when the green light appeared, they both shot out onto the track, with Marinette moving from 12th to 4rd in less than half a lap.

"And Miss Dupain-Chang moves toward the lead, moving swiftly around the corner and into 2nd place!" Kim called, holding a pretend microphone and using his best sports-announcer voice. "She swerves, she dives, she…Marinette, what are you doing?"

The girl in the white sweater, tongue in the corner of her mouth in concentration, was now neck and neck with Nino, but when she got a mushroom boost, she held it instead of using it to gain the lead. They rounded the corner and flew into the final lap, with Marinette still holding out on her booster. Their classmates yelled and applauded, shouting encouragement to both racers. They came up on the sharp decent of the rails, and suddenly Marinette swerved to the right and into Nino's Luigi, sending him sideways and out of control. Grinning as Alya cheered her on, Marinette used her boost just in time to make it around the sharp left-hand turn and race past the character in green. Nino, unable to right himself in time, slid completely off of the edge of the track and into the abyss, causing his half of the screen to go black for several seconds before he was dropped back into the race. He accelerated around the turn, but Marinette, having successfully made it into the shortcut path, was hopelessly ahead of him.

"She's going, she's going…and she's outta here!" Kim whooped, and the rest of the room followed suit.

"Three cheers for Marinette!" Adrien's call startled the winning driver out of her concentration, and she turned as pink as Birdo at his praise. Their score flashed across the screen, and Alya squeezed Marinette's shoulder – her win had taken Adrien's character from 11th overall to 3rd, thanks to her large margin of victory. Nino, who had been passed by several extra characters in addition to Marinette, had been bumped down to 4th. Accepting defeat, Nino crossed the room to shake her hand.

"Well played, Marinette. Well played." As the celebration died down, they heard a chime from the main floor.

"Pizza's here!" Nino's younger brother came hopping down the step with three boxes of pizza and breadsticks, putting them on the table and flicking his brother before racing back out (at the age of 10, he was both bold and very shy, depending on who was in the room at the time).

"Let's eat!" The teenagers fell onto the food as though they hadn't eaten in months. Most ate at the table, but Marinette and Alya opted to stay on the floor, so that if (or when) they dropped something, it wouldn't be as far to pick it up (or so Marinette reasoned). It was moments like these when their friendship was perfect; Marinette preferred breadsticks over pizza, and Alya preferred pizza over breadsticks. They loaded up their plates and traded things around as they went. Shortly after they finished, they rejoined the table for several rounds of cards (Adrien gave them his chair while he sat backward on the back of the couch so that he could still play). Someone grabbed the box of plastic utensils, and the group spent almost an hour in a tournament-style game of Spoons**. Marinette, who was too calm to race for the spoons, was out in the first round, and after many rounds (some of which had to be re-done), it got down to Alya and Kim. They stared hard at each other from across the table, and the single plastic spoon was moved to a spot on the floor exactly 5 feet away from both of them, sitting on the bottom step. Nino shuffled the cards dramatically, then handed Alya the deck.

"Ready…go!"

Cards flashed as Alya began, barely looking at them before sending across the table at her competitor, who somehow managed to keep up. The room was silent, as though everyone was holding their breath in anticipation. Suddenly, Kim was up and moving, and a moment later, Alya was standing triumphantly on the stairs with the plastic spoon. She grinned and bowed for the applause before reaching down to help Kim up from the ground – _the ground_? Marinette, confused, turned to Adrien behind her.

"How did Alya win? Kim was up before she was." ( _Yes – another not-horribly-awkward sentence! The new year was already looking good_ ).

"I think Alya tripped him," Adrien mused, having been paying close attention and seen Kim go crashing to the ground as Alya shot up after him. "He may be more athletic, but he isn't exactly the most graceful on his feet."

Nino, looking at the clock behind him, reported on the time. "We have half an hour left of the year, dudes!" A cheer went up around him, and there was a general clattering as Marinette's classmates moved around to grab a final snack and settle in to watch the New Year's celebration on TV, which would soon end in a spectacular display of fireworks. Adrien spun around and continued to sit on the back of the couch, looking back at Marinette and gesturing to the open space on the sofa in front of him. An incredible warm feeling filled the blue-haired girl from her nose to her toes, and she dropped onto the couch between Alya (who was still holding the spoon) and Rose (who was wondering out loud what kind of fireworks they would see). In a momentary burst of boldness, Marinette used Adrien's knees on either side of her as armrests, and she felt him shift his legs to help hold her upright. Nino came around with plastic cups of sparking cider for all of them to toast with when it was time.

A parade glittered across the large flat-screen, and Adrien leaned down to prop his elbow on his knee next to Marinette's hand.

"So, how's your night so far? Are you having fun?"

Marinette, finding it easier to talk to him when she couldn't see his face, smiled and answered back. "I really am! I wasn't really sure what to expect, I mean, I've never been to a New Year's Eve party before or anything, and I usually don't really go to parties at all, but I figured, 'hey, I'll give it a shot' and then Alya helped me get ready, and then she was like 'we should really write out our resolutions' and then there was glitter all over the floor which is really hard to get out of carpet, and yea…" Realizing that she was rambling, she faded out and took an awkward sip of her fizzing apple drink.

"I love that scarf, by the way. Is it new?"

"It's, uh…it's an original, actually." Marinette turned slightly pink, but this time it was of pride.

"You made that!" It was less of a question and more of an exclamation, and Adrien nudged Rose beside them to show her Marinette's handiwork. Rose, true to form, squealed over the carefully-sewn fabric, and told her that she would love to pay for Marinette to make her one just like it in pink. This got them into a conversation about clothing trends that they thought would hold out into the new year, and they both agreed that heels with jeans could stay, but the whole "plaid and ruffled sleeves" thing simply had to go.

"Get ready, everyone!" Nino called, double checking that everyone still had something to toast with. He sat on the couch on Alya's other side and started the countdown, soon joined by the rest of the room.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

Marinette looked back at Adrien, and found him looking not at the countdown on the screen, but at her.

"Seven!"

He was still leaning on his elbow, and his face was almost level with hers.

"Six!"

 _Is he going to kiss me?!_

"Five!"

 _He is going to kiss me_

"Four!"

 _Do I want him to?_

"Three!"

Her heart pounded, and she realized that she did, in fact, want him to kiss her.

"Two!"

Something in his eyes shifted, both questioning and determined. He leaned toward her (which must have been incredibly uncomfortable with the way he was sitting, but he didn't seem to care) and paused, waiting to see what she would do. What she did was tip forward slightly, almost but not quite closing the space between them. Cheers went up around them and explosions sounded, but neither of them seemed to hear it. He kissed her, just barely, then winked and tapped his plastic cup with hers, toasting in the new year at last. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, and she carefully reached up and took hold of his hand and squeezed. "Happy New Year!"

One.

 _Do something incredible_

* * *

 **Follow me on Twitter at TheOneWhoSparks to read my Resolution to you, and tell me yours in the comments! Do you want to travel? Paint a picture? Write a novel? Let me know! Thank you so much, and I'll see you all in the new year for part 2!**


	2. Resolutions

_**My New Year's Resolutions**_

By Alya Césaire

 **Resolution I** : Go to holiday parties more often

 **Resolution II** : Get 200 more followers on the Ladyblog

 **Resolution III** : Have a personal interview with Chat Noir _(she already had several with Ladybug, and was curious about the cat-like partner)_

 **Resolution IV** : Be the perfect wingwoman

 **Resolution V** : Learn more about Adrien Agreste to fulfill Resolution IV

 **Resolution VI** : Try to help her younger sisters get along ('try' being the key word)

 **Resolution VII** : Have a date by Valentine's day _(Marinette laughed at this one)_

 **Resolution VIII** : Save up money for a better video camera

 **Resolution IX** : Get a summer job to help with Resolution VIII

 **Resolution X** : Help Marinette get excited about the little things in life, like cupcakes with extra frosting _("It is possible to have too much frosting, you know!" "Too much? Never!")_

Marinette's New Year's Resolutions

Leave the house (more often)

Complete an entire coherent sentence in front of Adrien Agreste

Learn how to make the perfect buttercream frosting

Help Alya relax when it comes to fighting crime _(Alya agreed with this one – being trapped by a car once was enough for her)_

Stay positive and don't stress so much about the little things

* * *

 _There is another list that I would love to share with you, but it appears I already have. This young blond didn't write his resolution down; by the time he thought of it, he acted on it (with great success) in less than 12 hours._

It started as thoughts of ' _I wonder if she'll be there_ ' and spun outward from there. He thought up several goals for his Paris-saving persona, but a) he couldn't write them down in case someone found them, and b) he needed one for his normal self, too, he thought. He pondered on the coming year while he got ready for the party, and even on the ride to Nino's, his mind was churning.

 _Get along better with Father? Help out Nathalie?_ He glanced forward at the driver. _Run away from bodyguards and security less often?_ Gorilla glanced back, as though he knew what the teenager was thinking.

Finally, he settled on a resolution that was fairly vague, hoping that it would be fulfilled when the time came (whenever that would be). Little did he know, the presence of a blue-haired girl and the adrenaline of a Mario Kart race did wonders for speeding things up when it came to fate. And so it happened, on the stroke of midnight, that they were in the perfect place at the purrfect time, and he completed his New Year's Resolution in the very first moment of the year. It was this resolution, along with a thousand other thoughts that crossed through his mind as he kissed her, that carried him into the next year of his life – and it promised to be much more exciting than the last.

 _If you want to know what his Resolution was, I'll give you a hint: it is italicized in the first chapter. Love you all, and have a good week!_


End file.
